MPS20N0040D Pressure Sensor Calibration with Arduino

Pressure is defined as an evenly distributed force acting over a surface with a given area. The accurate measurement of pressure is essential for applications ranging from material testing to weighing scales, aircraft altitude prediction, and evaluating biological functions in humans relating to respiration and blood flow In this tutorial, a digital pressure transducer and analog pressure manometer will be used to measure gauge pressure - where the analog manometer is used as the calibration tool for the digital pressure sensor. Arduino will be used to read the digital pressure transducer, an MPS20N0040D, and a 3D printed manometer will be used to measure analog pressure manually.

Force Sensitive Resistors (FSRs) with Arduino

A force sensitive resistor (FSR) is comprised of a conductive polymer material pressed between two electrode layers, giving it the ability to electrically respond to changes in stress and strain. FSRs are often used in ergonomic or rehabilitation applications where pressure is applied from human interaction and the response is recorded or translated. Force sensitive resistors are incredibly useful for human interactivity because of their slim profile, inexpensive construction, and multiplicative geometries. The sensor used in this tutorial is the RP-S40-ST, which is a 40mm x 40mm thin film FSR. An Arduino board will be used to read the analog signals outputted by the FSR in a voltage divider configuration, where the force applied to the FSR can be approximated using the sensor’s calibration curve.

Arduino SD Card Module Data Logger

This tutorial will explore the range of capabilities available to the Arduino SD library by using a real-world example of data logging. The SD library allows users to read/write, list files, create/remove files, and make/delete directories. Additionally, we will develop an algorithm that creates a new file every time the Arduino board is restarted, which will prevent overwriting of existing data records. The resulting data file will be in comma separated format and contain multiple data points, including a time stamp in milliseconds since the program started. Therefore, it is important to record the program start time. For very accurate time monitoring tasks, a real-time clock is recommended, however, for the experiments conducted here, relative time suffices.

Arduino Pitot Tube Wind Speed and Airspeed Indicator - Theory and Experiments

The pitot tube is a device used to approximate the speed of vehicles traveling by air and water. An in-depth article on NASA's website is dedicated to pitot tubes (also called pitot-static tubes, Prandtl tubes), where it cites the primary application as airspeed indicator on aircraft. For more information on design and limitations of the instrument, I recommend perusing that page. For this tutorial, only the basic theory is explored using Bernoulli's equation and a practical application. An inexpensive pitot tube and a digital differential pressure sensor are used to measure pressure, which is converted to a digital signal using an Arduino board.